The home where 99-year-old Captain Sir Tom Moore raised millions for NHS charities by walking laps of the garden has had its asking price cut by £450,000.
The 18th-century Old Rectory, a seven-bedroom Grade II-listed property in Bedfordshire, was put up for sale in 2024 for £2.25m, but has now had its price reduced to £1.8m.
Captain Sir Tom, a Second World War veteran, became a national hero when he challenged himself to pace around the garden 100 times with his rollator walking aid, to raise money during the Covid lockdowns in 2020. He became so popular that donations amounted to £39m.
After he died aged 100 the following year, his home made headlines when his daughter Hannah Ingram-Moore and her husband Colin built an unauthorised £200,000 spa pool block and had to demolish it.
The couple had applied in 2021 for permission for a building in the grounds, which was approved, but planners refused a later retrospective application in 2022 for a larger C-shaped building containing a spa pool.
The planning application named the Captain Tom Foundation and said the building was intended to support the charity’s work, but it later emerged that the trustees had no awareness of the application submitted in its name.
Located in the village of Marston Moretaine, his former home is described in the sale listing as a “magnificent seven-bedroom property”.
The estate agent’s property details make no mention of Captain Sir Tom or his daughter, stating: “The property was given Grade II listed status in October 1952 as a property of architectural and historical importance.
“The listing report dates the building to the 18th century but notes that this included ‘reworking an earlier structure’. The building was then substantially extended in the 19th century with a plaque saying 'rebuilt AD 1884 JS Wood DD Rector'.”
The estate agents say a “comprehensive programme of improvement and renovation” has been undertaken including a new water main and a new gas heating system.
The Charity Commission opened a case into the Captain Tom Foundation shortly after his death in 2021 and launched an inquiry in June 2022, amid concerns about its management and independence from Captain Tom’s family.
They later said the foundation would closed down following the investigation by the Charity Commission. Ms Ingram-Moore and her husband Colin were banned from being charity trustees.
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